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Eight years ago, addressing an auto industry conference in Traverse City, Rick Wagoner strode from the lectern to the front of the stage. Mr. Wagoner, now the chief executive of GM, had just been named its head of purchasing, replacing José Ignacio López de Arriortúa, a storied executive who had forced steep price cuts and quality inspections on GM's suppliers and, in the process, become a reviled figure in Motor City.

Importantly, the new VPs will have a seat at GM's product-development councils, which Peter Ternes, a GM spokesman, said was "the biggest change." Under the current system, a centralized global panel headed by product czar Bob Lutz decides which models will be made. Three of the four new channel chiefs "will have a voice" on new products, the spokesman said. That fourth channel chief, Ms. Lajdziak, was the only one not promoted to North American VP; she remains Saturn's general manager and will ...

A year into his reign as chief executive of the world's No. 1 automaker, Rick Wagoner won't rule out tapping a high-profile outsider to pump some pizzazz into GM's car and truck lineup.

Twenty General Motors women executives - more than from any other automaker - have been named among the 100 Leading Women in the North American Auto Industry by Automotive News.

Steve Hill doesn't exactly match the profile of corporate savior. The 45-year-old General Motors marketing executive is self-effacing and toils far from public view within the Byzantine corridors of the automaker's world headquarters. But a novel idea that sparked an incredible sales rally this summer has turned Hill into a hero of sorts at GM.

The following is an excerpt from an Automotive News interview with Ron Zarrella, president of General Motors North Americian Operations.

Automotive engineers usually spend their days in the shadows, toiling away in front of their CAD systems, overly concerned with banalities such as the tactile feel of the radio buttons. Often they remain nameless, faceless and locked away from the public except when sought out by an occasional automotive journalist. That scenario may the norm for many engineers, but is certainly not in the case when it comes to Jon Moss, manager of GM's special vehicle group.

He may have provided an easy foil for young filmmaker Michael Moore, but Roger Smith was a complicated character in GM's drama. Smith became CEO in an era of deep decline that saw factories shuttered and workers turned out into the streets in droves. But he also tried, perhaps unsuccessfully, to remodel and reform GM's aging and ossified corporate structure. Smith also launched Saturn, an innovative attempt to apply Japanese principles to an American brand that ushered in a new era of workpla...

Outsider John Smale is retiring after quietly guiding GM’s restructuring. From corporate governance to brand management, he leaves a mark.

G. Richard Wagoner will become the fifth GM chairman since 1990. While Wagoner inherits numerous challenges -- huge pension and health care tabs, losses in Europe and stifling competition -- he's earned a reputation as a low-key but effective manager.

General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner has driven the intense incentive wars of the past year. And he plans to continue to do so if that's what it takes to gain market share in an intensely competitive U.S. market.

Ron Zarrella says he quit General Motors out of desire to be a CEO, not because of any conflict with GM's new product chief, Robert Lutz.